Bishop George Nkuo of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Kumbo has marked the 20th anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination with thanksgiving, reflecting on the journey of his Priestly and Episcopal ministry and asking for the grace to continue serving God’s people with hope, compassion and perseverance.

Speaking during a Thanksgiving Mass marking the anniversary on Tuesday, September 8, Bishop Nkuo thanked members of the St. Augustine’s College (SAC) community who joined him in prayer, saying the occasion offered him an opportunity to look back on the two decades since he was ordained a Bishop.

He reminded those gathered that while the occasion marked a personal milestone, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist must remain centered on Jesus Christ.

“It’s Christ who is the center of our celebration. So let us not shift our attention from Christ to the Bishop. It’s Christ Himself who is present with us,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Kumbo shared a personal prayer inspired by his reflection earlier in the day on the Blessed Virgin Mary, inviting the faithful to pray with him as he renewed his entrustment of his Priestly ministry to the Mother of Jesus.

“Mary, Mother of Jesus and my Mother, I entrust my Priesthood to you again,” he said.

Reflecting on two images of Mary — holding the infant Jesus at Bethlehem and standing with Christ in the mystery of His suffering and redemption — the Catholic Bishop asked for the grace to make his ministry one of liberation and service.

“I ask for intercession that my Priestly ministry will always be one of redeeming the people I serve from whatever holds them back from becoming more than the human being God wants them to be. This is my vocation. This is my work. This is my life,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Kumbo, since September 2006 asked Mary to help him treasure in his heart the blessings God has bestowed upon him and to develop a more positive outlook in the face of difficulties and disappointments.

Bishop Nkuo acknowledged that ministers of the Church can sometimes become overly focused on what goes wrong, the suffering people experience and the disappointments encountered in life.

He said he had prayed for the grace to look beyond suffering and failure and to recognize the hope offered by Christ’s Resurrection.

“I need you to have a more positive outlook. That’s my prayer this morning, and I know you can help me,” he said.

The Catholic Bishop then expressed one of the central reflections of his anniversary prayer: “I want to be able to look at the crucifix and see Easter.”

Bishop Nkuo said he wanted to learn to see failure and rejection not as reasons for despair but as opportunities to learn and improve.

“I want to treat failure and rejection as information about how I can do better. I know from experience that I have a chance. I can dwell on negative outcomes or on positive projections. Help me to choose the latter,” he said.

The Bishop of Kumbo said a more positive attitude would enable him to approach those entrusted to his pastoral care with greater hope.

“With a more positive attitude, Mary my Mother, I can approach the people I am serving with greater hope. And this is certainly what they need,” he said.

Reflecting on his ministry as a preacher of the Gospel, Bishop Nkuo noted that many people who come to Church carry the burdens of difficult experiences from their daily lives.

“When I stand at the pulpit on the weekend, I need to realize the people before me have come from a week of hardships, difficulties, disappointments, tensions, and heartaches. And they are looking to me to give them a reason to go back into their daily lives and try again to persevere,” he said.

He therefore asked Mary, whom he described as one who persevered through the different stages of her Son’s public ministry and stood at the foot of the Cross, to help him nourish God’s people with the Gospel.

“You know what people need, and you can help me to feed them the solid food of the Gospel to nourish them in their perseverance,” he implored.

The Bishop also asked for the grace to empathize with those facing difficulties even when he himself needs encouragement and support.

“Help me, Mother of Joy and Mother of Sorrow, to bring reinforcement into the people’s lives and to empathize with people’s problems even while I myself am looking for understanding and support,” he said.

Bishop Nkuo, who was ordained a Priest for the Diocese of Buea in April 1981, expressed his desire to remain rooted in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation, suffering, death and Resurrection.

He prayed for the grace to “kneel before the King of Bethlehem” and to remain faithful at the Cross of Calvary, believing that the Risen Christ continues to accompany and strengthen him.

He asked Mary to help him remain convinced “with all my heart that the Son now risen is always with me and within me, strengthening me with the resurrection power to persevere.”

Culled from aciafrica